Here’s a good one… We’re Ridgie-less for the first time since 1987. 
Our last few dogs were through breed rescue and we’re attempting to go that route again. We’re looking at a 3 year old female this weekend. She’s currently in a foster home and she’s PERFECT on paper except for that one little (LARGE) thing. Great family/farm dog, good with horses, kids, chickens, great recall, which for a Rhodesian Ridgeback is like winning the lottery. Of course she has to have that one little deal breaker thing.
Is it possible to train this out? Would love to hear from any one who’s attempted it or succeeded. Thanks in advance.
From what I’ve read some dogs/breeds have an inborn High Prey Drive meaning it’s genetic that they like to chase things. Especially moving things.
I rescued a shelter German Shepherd, 1-2 yrs. old, brought her home and she immediately chased the cat. I spent about a week keeping them separate and safe and worked the dog on a leash w/ simple obedience commands and basically teaching her the cat was off limits. She came around very quickly and to this day has been friends with all new cats, chickens, horses, etc.
But this dog was quite good at wanting to learn and to please. She has never chased anything else, even squirrels. Oh I forgot, she did chase and capture a couple rats over the years.
I think it depends on the dog, more independent breeds are not as easy to train out the chasing.
If you find out a sure method for a very high prey drive dog, let me know! I’ve already complained about my BC mix’s issues with rabbits, that also applies to cats (we don’t have any) and very small dogs (we don’t have any of those either, and she is leashed ANY time I expect a small dog to be present, always off our property). Ugh. I know BCs can have a high prey drive, but they are usually more amenable to training than this one, but I don’t know what else she is mixed with.
She’s easy to train for the standard obedience commands and things like jumping over horse jumps as I point at them, but she loses her mind when she sees a small animal moving and become totally unreliable. It’s like her brains have fallen out of her head.
I’ve had no luck w it w my dog. If you figure it out, let me know!
not perfect on paper if she isn’t good with cats! and i really like one of them 
[QUOTE=beowulf;8223271]
not perfect on paper if she isn’t good with cats! and i really like one of them :D[/QUOTE]
Yes, Beowulf… I said perfect EXCEPT, and I happen to like ALL of them.
In regard to the prey drive thing, it seems she’s fine with farm animals, horses, chickens… which is why i wondered if it was something that could be worked on. Most dogs will chase things that run, it doesn’t mean they’ll hurt them once caught, or NOT hurt them…that’s the million dollar question.
I adopted a 3 year old Boxer who had been a show/kennel dog her whole life. When she first came home she chased our cat up a door! I put the kitty inside a room with a screen door and Boxer was only allowed to touch noses, added kitty in a crate for a while and once she had been exposed for a week or so, she was fine. She was a particularly wonderful dog, but she did have a high prey drive as she did kill a fox cub. We were overrun with foxes and I encouraged her chasing them.
in my experience, ridgebacks are one breed that will kill cats. I wouldn’t risk it if you like your cats. They are bred for lion hunting, and cats are just to similar—like little lions.
If the foster home stated “not good with cats” the dog must have shown this behavior clearly otherwise they wouldn’t have stated that in the description.
I’ve been looking for another rescue shepherd and many of them state “no cats” so I believe them. I think my shepherd is not as intense as many in the breed, her temperament would be called “soft” as in she is not as potentially aggressive.
A friend has two Husky siblings who have killed several cats, ducks and went after a wild boar in the woods. Would they be re-trainable? Who knows. The breed is known for being independent and a challenge to train.
Maybe OP you could discuss this with other Ridgie owners to get a better feel for re-training this behavior.
[QUOTE=gloriginger;8223362]
in my experience, ridgebacks are one breed that will kill cats. I wouldn’t risk it if you like your cats. They are bred for lion hunting, and cats are just to similar—like little lions.[/QUOTE]
I think any breed dog can kill cats, and I’ve had about 1/2 dozen or so Ridgebacks over 28 years. Some were raised by us with our cats, some were adult fosters or adopted from breed rescue and all were fine with the cats. There was only one that we adopted at age 4 who became a problem. He was fine with them for about 4 years, but as he became more and more emotionally unhinged he was not safe with them, but it was not prey drive but anxiety. Mine were also good with horses and chickens, so I think painting with a broad breed brush is not fair. I’m not prepared to say she can or can’t be trained, just curious about people’s success rate retraining a cat chasing dog. Chase does not always = kill, but obviously you want to nip it in the bud.
While not suggested at all, I had a husky/german shepherd when I was young who was a pretty hard cat chaser. We didn’t have cats at the time and if off leash she’d go after them until they were out of reach.
One time she chased the neighborhood tom cat (HUGE yellow cat) into a corner and thought she was going to get to taste her first kitty.
Tom cat jumped on her head and rode her down the street while doing damage.
After that she was MUCH more respectful of cats, especially cats that did not run.
On a slightly more serious note, what information does the shelter have that leads them to believe she chases cats? My mother has a chow cross from a shelter that came with a NO CATS warning so when she insisted on bringing her dog over to my place we took a lot of precautions. Dog on leash, baby gate, etc.
We did not count on my Siamese jumping the gate, and barreling toward his new best friend while meowing at the top of his lungs. Dog was TERRIFIED. I’m not sure how the shelter concluded she wasn’t good with cats, maybe she would chase one if it ran, but my cats don’t run so it was hard to tell.
[QUOTE=gloriginger;8223362]
in my experience, ridgebacks are one breed that will kill cats. I wouldn’t risk it if you like your cats. They are bred for lion hunting, and cats are just to similar—like little lions.[/QUOTE]
this ^
Most dogs will chase anything that runs… It’s a dog thing.
I did have very good results with e-collars and chickens. Both of my Dobes had no exposure to free range chickens before spending a weekend at a friend’s home. It took several instances of attempted chicken chasing! A sharp “No” backed with a shock. The e-collar in my opinion was critical since there was no physical contact by me nor chance of physical control (leash, etc).
There were 25 chickens when we got there and 25 happy chickens when we left.
test
I have, big bully mix who wanted to eat my cats. I used a crate and taught him to leave it and with my cat now he is totally fine. Big barn cat who loves dogs. He will (as will my other dogs) chase the ferals that come around.
[QUOTE=khall;8223836]
I have, big bully mix who wanted to eat my cats. I used a crate and taught him to leave it and with my cat now he is totally fine. Big barn cat who loves dogs. He will (as will my other dogs) chase the ferals that come around.[/QUOTE]
Thank you. I don’t count non family cats…every dog I’ve ever owned, while being great with MY cats, has chased outdoor cats or strange cats." If it runs… I will chase" .
[QUOTE=enjoytheride;8223735]
While not suggested at all, I had a husky/german shepherd when I was young who was a pretty hard cat chaser. We didn’t have cats at the time and if off leash she’d go after them until they were out of reach.
One time she chased the neighborhood tom cat (HUGE yellow cat) into a corner and thought she was going to get to taste her first kitty.
Tom cat jumped on her head and rode her down the street while doing damage.
After that she was MUCH more respectful of cats, especially cats that did not run.
On a slightly more serious note, what information does the shelter have that leads them to believe she chases cats? My mother has a chow cross from a shelter that came with a NO CATS warning so when she insisted on bringing her dog over to my place we took a lot of precautions. Dog on leash, baby gate, etc.
We did not count on my Siamese jumping the gate, and barreling toward his new best friend while meowing at the top of his lungs. Dog was TERRIFIED. I’m not sure how the shelter concluded she wasn’t good with cats, maybe she would chase one if it ran, but my cats don’t run so it was hard to tell.[/QUOTE]
LOL… I would love any of these scenarios. I love an ass-kicking cat!
Shelter org says exactly… “She’s even great with kids, horses, cows and chickens. But no cats for this gal. They are just too fun to chase!”
Her foster home is a barn with barn cats, lots of wide open spaces and things that run. Sounds like Ridgeback heaven. 
I’m meeting with them tomorrow, and we can discuss if any effort has been put into discouraging the behavior or if it’s just a “oh well, she chases cats” thing.
E-collars are BY FAR the most effective means of “de-crittering” a high drive dog. We use them to teach our hunting dogs not to chase deer or other non-target game that jump up in front of them and run while they’re off leash. The key to success is to let the dog the believe the other animal “stung” him when he got too close. DO NOT let the dog learn that “heavy collar = sting” or “person yelling = sting”. This is known as making a dog collar-wise. Good e-collar learning requires that the dog wear the collar off and on for several weeks before it’s actually used. It’s also critical that the dog not have any satisfying chases because the collar wasn’t on when it was needed. Satisfying chases are a powerful reward that cause huge setbacks in the training process.
All that being said… there is always the chance that a dog that’s okay 99% of the time, will be triggered by some future situation. Even after de-crittering training, I wouldn’t trust this dog to be around cats unsupervised.
I think it really depends on the dog, and also the intent. I have an Amstaff mix that chases the cats a bit. It’s gotten better with time and training, but my one cat who’s a bit of a scaredy-cat and ALWAYS runs away ALWAYS gets chased.
Thankfully, my dog doesn’t do anything once she corners them- she just chases for the fun of it.
I’d be much more willing to work with/rehab a dog that like that than one that wants to chase and kill the cat. Because there’s always a chance that you won’t be able to train it out of them completely…
Our two greyhounds learned to live and let live with our own animals - others not so much.
Our Jack Russells (and I used to breed them) all became cat proofed from the beginning.
Can you take the ridgeback on trial - seems a shame it misses out on a good, experienced home by that one black mark, which well MAY be trained out of it.
She is still quite young and may not have had experience with cats and just did what comes naturally when they tested her.
I’m on the dog’s side.
